Performance Monitoring Gets Upgrade

TDIndustries’ Smart Building Services program gives owners better cost control, efficiency improvements

After months of waiting, some employees are back in the office for the first time. As they walk in, you see their bright, baby-blue masks interrupt the static views you’ve watched over the past year. Although their faces are obscured, their body language makes it clear that they’re excited to be back in the workplace after months of self-quarantine. 

Everyone seems to be adapting, except the air flow seems unusual. Is there a damper malfunction? Is the coolant leaking? Unknown to you, your air conditioning system has been idle for many months and hasn’t been prepped for a full office return. As the sun begins to shine through the windows, those hidden smiles droop into grimaces, followed by frowns as the air quality slowly disintegrates into a humid, hot, sticky mess. The air seems to be moving, but beads of sweat drip off your furrowed eyebrows and employees start checking the clock to see how soon it is until they can head home for dinner.

With so many changes and COVID-19 personnel health and safety checklists on your team’s plate, it’s an easy task to miss.

To help solve problems like this and optimize operations, TDIndustries (TD) has developed Smart Building Services. Using software platforms in conjunction with our analysts and engineers in our Virtual Service Center, TD and your facility maintenance department can remotely monitor and evaluate all HVAC and plumbing systems, helping owners address issues before everyone gets back to the office.

“In today’s connected climate, we are incredibly rich with data, but poor on information that creates actionable value,” said Chuck Swallow, TD Vice President. “Through our Smart Building Services, we offer scalable building and central plant optimization services by constantly monitoring the systems to identify trends, diagnose problems, and suggest opportunities to repair costly issues or adjust control settings with significant savings potential.”

Using fault detection diagnostics (FDD), TD identifies issues outside of design parameters and then prioritizes those issues based on energy waste, uncomfortable conditions, and maintenance impact so customers can address the most critical items first.

“For each diagnostic issue, we also identify the most likely cause, which helps our technicians and building operators save time and resources in troubleshooting issues,” Swallow said.

TD’s program taps into the building automation system as well as stand-alone devices and sensors, and aggregates that data in a single platform. The system categorizes each alert and recognizes when each system is performing outside of its intended design. It displays potential problem areas in the system for operators to check and with a dashboard for all systems, it can help consolidate all the data flowing from the company’s system controls.

“Our platforms can aggregate data, many times from disparate systems, to provide insight into multiple buildings and thousands of pieces of equipment,” said Swallow. “The ability to have ongoing commissioning, whether in a new or existing building, is invaluable.”

Smart Building Services allows for varying levels of in-house experience and support. At one end of the spectrum, TD can monitor an office building’s systems daily and provide energy conservation measures (ECMs) and other optimization strategies to the owner when issues are identified. At the other end, a corporate campus’ facility team can monitor all systems and call in TD’s analysts when their experience is needed.

“It can help optimize small staffs because expert knowledge is encased in the software programs,” Swallow said. “Also, our analysts and engineers in our Virtual Service Center can serve as additional support, both of which can greatly lower operational costs.”

For larger, complex campuses with central plants, TD utilizes trained data analysts and building engineers to remotely monitor and provide optimization strategies for central plant operations. “This is a true partnership with plant operators to take control of energy expenditures and create a plan to increase efficiencies, train your staff, and save money—all with minimal capital expenditure.”

“Leveraging innovative technology to transform facilities management, whether it is our optimization platforms or our Visual Intelligence (VI) tool has been exciting, especially with the value it creates for our customers.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to develop and evolve, we’ve adjusted design parameters in our optimization platforms to align with ASHRAE and CDC guidance to help owners safely get people back into buildings. We’ve also realized that our VI photo and video documentation and telecommunication capabilities have been extremely beneficial in helping our customers provide the highest level of service while keeping interactions to a minimum.

Either way, TD’s Smart Building Services offers you the power to access and act upon actionable information, especially during these uncertain times.